Thread: What are you working on right now.

Originally Posted by Il_Penseroso

Hehe... Don't remember where, but once I read that Liszt banned his second Hungarian Rhapsody as well as Chopin's second Scherzo for all his students, same reason as you mentioned, but Arthur Friedheim recorded both long after !

Similarly, I went to a Guitar Shop with my mother once and she asked one of the workers to play her "Stairway to Heaven". There were a few groans and one man nicely said "We don't allow that song to be played here anymore."

Just started working on Impromptu, op. 29 in A-Flat by Chopin.

love this piece

Chopin Op. 28:
No. 4, No. 15, No. 18, No. 22
Schubert D. 802: Variations for flute and piano
Max Bruch: Kol Nidrei
Bach C.P.E. BWV 1020 flute sonata in g minor

Obviously the piano parts in the above...

Gershwin Three preludes
Liszt Transcendental Étude no. 1
Ravel Jeux d'eau (finally )
Schumann fantasiestücke


And a lot of other things, I have some concerts soon.

Working on? As in not finished? Hmmm...

Bach - English Suite No. 2 in A minor
Mozart - Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K 310
Chopin - Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante
Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10, Nos. VII – X
Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
Ravel - Miroirs (Nos. III, IV, & V)
Prokofiev - Sonata No. 7 in B flat major, Op. 83

Bach - WTC Vol. 2, Prelude & Fugue in G maj. (mostly the fugue; prelude's pretty much done for the time being, though everything always feels like a work in progress to me)
Beethoven - Sonata Op. 81a (owns my soul forever)
Medtner - Skazka Op. 9 No. 2

And soon I will have my accompanying assignments and will have more music to learn (and learn very quickly) and will start going to other people's lessons!

I'm getting ready to perform Carl Czerny's Variations Brillantes op. 14.


http://conquest.imslp.info/files/img...ariationen.pdf

In it he demonstrates a lot of elements his students used, and the more I listen to Czerny and play his music, the more I see his student's similarities as Czernyisms. But Czerny stuck to his form, still wrote structurally a lot like his own teachers. Here he displays a few surprising harmonic progressions and modality, reminding me how people often seem to chide his music for lacking in those areas, calling him rigidly formulaic. Well, I have to say that they just haven't listened to enough of his music, and certainly haven't listened to his orchestral music. Call me crazy, but I've often considered Czerny to be more prolific than his students, because he composed much more and for more different ensembles than them.

^ Sounds lovely!

Originally Posted by CarterJohnsonPiano

^ Sounds lovely!

It sits well with the hands, too. That he most assuredly got from Beethoven, given his description of Beethoven's piano technique. If only more people played Czerny. His music is accessible.

Still working on Scarborough Fair. I may be adventerous and work on the bass line if I get more than fifteen minutes in a sitting.
Also playing around with "Greensleeves" and now "Mad World" (from Donnie Darko).

I need to find an easy classical piece as well. Maybe my goal for the weekend.

^ I would suggest William Duncombe's Sonatina. It is a rather-well known beginner piece, but it will probably quench your desire for more "serious" music (if you have such a desire )

I am enjoying the folk stuff, but I do indeed have the desire for some more serious stuff too Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look up the sheet music for it.

I haven't actually worked on a piano piece for months and months... Still, I have to now for uni, so I picked up Haydn's piano sonata in b minor:



(I have Hamelin which I prefer but this isn't bad - I prefer Hamelin's faster tempo and lightness of touch which I will attempt (poorly and unsuccessfully) to emulate)

The Haydn piano sonatas are in general much underrated - why do I never see them quoted anywhere? They are the only piano music which makes me enthusiastic about playing actual pieces on the piano (I like improvising but I'm not much of a performer). They have so much which is enjoyable in them - they are written for the player and not just the audience (not that I'm saying that other piano music isn't written for the player). I just think that there is something more intimate about these sonatas - an intimacy largely lost by later styles, and not achievable by the more obviously complex Baroque contrapuntal way of writing - and usually not desired. IMO this is exploiting piano music at its best. It also makes practical use of my favoured double-repeat form since as a player you can play the first time around, but then play it better the second time (if just sight-reading).

Just got the piano/celesta parts for The Firebird, which EMU is putting on in December. Should be a lot of fun.

Greensleeves
Scales: Learning the major and minor, and practicing with each hand
A few brief exercises trying to get used to both hands playing at the same time.